AN injured soldier from the Black Country had a lucky escape after his Everest expedition was cancelled – 24 hours before ice collapsed over the route he was due to take.

Karl Hinett, 24, from Tipton is taking part in a Walking With The Wounded event to raise cash to aid soldiers who have suffered serious injuries.

Karl suffered serious burns when his armoured personnel carrier was attacked in Iraq.

He is among five current and former soldiers, who suffered gunshot wounds, horrific burns and amputated limbs, who arrived in Nepal at the end of March before setting off on a trek to Everest Base Camp.

Scaling the Nepalese peak was one of many charity challenges Karl had set himself for 2012 having signed up to a staggering 48 marathons. Last year he completed 52.

But the climb was cancelled amid fears the warm weather could cause avalanches and dangerous ice-falls.

Expedition manager Captain Martin Hewitt said: “We are in no doubt that we have made absolutely the right decision to live to fight another day.

“At exactly the time we were due to be traversing the ice-fall towards Camp 1 on Everest a huge ice-fall came crashing down onto the route obliterating the ropes and ladders we were due to be stood on.

“Thank goodness nobody was hurt.”

Karl, who served with the Staffordshire Regiment, suffered severe burns to his hands, arms, legs and face in a fire bomb attack on his Warrior tank in Iraq in 2005.

He was treated at Birmingham’s Selly Oak and Queen Elizabeth Hospitals and took up running to raise funds for the military medical units and heighten awareness of the plight of wounded servicemen and women.

While disappointed at not being able to complete the climb, Karl said he was delighted to be involved in a world record attempt for the highest whiskey tasting session.

Karl and rest of the expedition team were joined on the record breaking stunt by four members of the inaugural Glenfiddich Explorers Club who won a national competition to travel to Everest.

“They had to leave some weeks ago to make it up here and during that time the expedition was suspended,” Karl said.

“So we gave them something a little bit special for making all the effort to come and see us.”